Things I wish DS9 had done...

[Agony_Boothb]

It has been probably mentioned here many times before but wasn't Michelle Forbes asked to be in DS9 but she refused?

Yes, Michelle Forbes didn't want to be tied down by one tv show. I saw Forbes at a convention a few years ago and someone asked her if she had any regrets about turning it down and she said pretty confidently that she didn't. Forbes strikes me as one of those actors who needs constant variety and gets bored with roles quickly. If Forbes had joined DS9 I doubt she would have made it to the end of the series. The longest stints Forbes has had on the various tv series she has worked on is 2 seasons of Guiding Light and 2 seasons of Homicide: Life on the Streets.

 

[Mysterion]

As a TNG fanatic, I think having Worf visit DS9 for few episodes would have been fine but taking him as a part of the DS9 crew, I'm not a fan of that decision. Worf = TNG character for me, not so much DS9.

Worf/Michael Dorn was better utilized and developed much more fully on DS9 than he ever was on TNG. It was a good move for the character the actor, and for the series. Ditto for O'Brien and Colm Meaney.

 

[jmidnight_99]

About the Borg, TNG had the Borg few times and I think that was enough. Somehow the Borg feels like an enemy that can't be used very often. If you beat an enemy on every season few times, how scary can that enemy be after that? Laying the foundation for Sisko was enough of Borg for DS9.

Voyager on the other hand had too much Borg stuff and although introduced in 'First Contact' the Borg Queen ruined the whole Borg concept for me, at least for everything that happened after that movie. (I avoid First Contact' these days)

As a TNG fanatic, I think having Worf visit DS9 for few episodes would have been fine but taking him as a part of the DS9 crew, I'm not a fan of that decision. Worf = TNG character for me, not so much DS9.

6 seasons of Jadzia and 1 with Ezri.. not a fan of that decision either.

Voyager used them way too much. Once, twice at most would have been O.K.

Yes. The Kira role was supposed to be her, and she refused.
Later they wanted her on Voyager, and arguably created the whole maquis thing just for an excuse to include her. She refused again, and her character became Torres.

Voyager was traveling through Borg space, and later very close to Borg space, so it would have been stupid to have less Borg. And frankly, I despised the Kazon to no end, and even more so when it was revealed that they were an inferior species that just stole their technology from others. So maybe the Borg didn't bother me just because they displaced the Kazon.

I agree with everyone that said the Borg would have been out of place on DS9. The station would have been no match, for one thing.

I would have liked maybe 4 less Borg episodes on Voyager... I didn't care for the plot of "Unimatrix Zero", although the acting, writing and effects were well done.

Worf was a perfect addition to DS9. The ensemble needed him. I don't know if they ever explained why the character left the Enterprise, but IMO, the show needed the character. O'Brien, Bashir, Dax and even Kira could not carry complex story lines. Don't beat me up for this... they supported complex story lines, but how many Trill stories could you have, how many angry Kira Bajoran occupation stories could you have... But there was always a way to expand the Klingon mythology, or Worf mythology, and fold it in or have the stories stand on their own. And Worf was just interesting, where O'Brien and Bashir.. not so much.

I wish Odo wasn't such a condescending, disagreeable character. I think he looked at solids with barely concealed contempt even before the war.

I didn't find the Odo/Kira romance believable at all.

I wish they could have been a little nicer to Quark. Sometimes the shit he has to take from Odo and Kira is a little sickening. Doesn't seem to be a lot of tolerance for the cultural differences with the Ferengi, by anyone.

I wish Kai Winn didn't die at the end, and was instead was more completely redeemed. I didn't care for Dukat's entire involvement with the end story.

They should have had a less ambiguous ending!!!

 

[eschaton]

I usually think more about the stuff DS9 did that I wish they hadn't (Section 31, Pah-Wraiths, Dukat becoming a mustache-twirling villain, etc). But this might be an interesting exercise:

• I think Jadzia should have ended up with Quark. My reasoning for this is pretty simple - seeing Quark in a long-term relationship with an assertive and independent woman would result in both interesting conflict and very dramatic character growth. We saw a sliver of that with his relationship with Grilka, and it was fantastic. It also helps that Jadzia seemed to genuinely like him, and even flirted with him a little bit. The only downside of this is I have a hard time seeing what they'd do with Worf for four years without some sort of romantic interest.
• Something more should have been done with Jake, as he sort of faded into the background as the series went on. On a recent livestream, Ira said in retrospect he wishes that Nog had pulled Jake into more interactions with Quark, Rom, and the other Ferengi supporting characters. This seems like a good idea to me.
• Garak should have been gay. Julian clearly was not and was just oblivious to the whole thing, but there should have been something explicit about Garak's sexuality.
• I think Dukat should have been given Damar's arc overall - turning to lead the resistance, but dying in a very undramatic fashion. The important part though is Dukat should never have actually changed internally. He was still the same ego-obsessed amoral bastard, he just realized that this was finally a way in which he could win the love of the Cardassian people. And you know what? It works. History remembers him as a great man - he never gets the comeuppance he deserves, and even Garak has to claim to govern with his legacy in mind. Lots of awful people are remembered as heroic by history, so this would be a very appropriate closing to his arc.
• I think a lot was lost by the Dominion basically becoming only three races by the end of the series. The Dominion was originally conceived as a sort of "anti-Federation" with scores of races. While it would have been more trouble for the VFX and makeup departments, having lots of rando thrall races involved would have given considerable versatility in terms of plots in the back half of the show.

 

[kkt]

They were as nice to Quark as he deserved, maybe nicer. He let Verad and his crew into the station so Verad could steal the Dax symbiant from Jadzia and expected to kill her, and very nearly did. If Quark had done that while I was security officer, I would have asked the magistrate to give him a nice long prison sentence.

 

[kkt]

Ideally, in some alternate 1990s universe in which network television could show this, Garak should have been explicitly bisexual or omnisexual. Capable of being turned on by anyone, especially if it advances his mission or agenda.

 

[bryce]

Ideally, in some alternate 1990s universe in which network television could show this, Garak should have been explicitly bisexual or omnisexual. Capable of being turned on by anyone, especially if it advances his mission or agenda.

Yeah, it's a shame that we had to wait until just a couple of years ago to finally have an openly gay character on Star Trek.

I mean, Trek has had a history of being progressive and a bit ahead of it's time...except on this issue.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Some kind of Sisko/Borg confrontation. The first episode sets up a huge grudge and it's never followed up on.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Some kind of Sisko/Borg confrontation. The first episode sets up a huge grudge and it's never followed up on.

No. It sets up personal issues that Sisko must work through.

 

[drt]

• I think Dukat should have been given Damar's arc overall - turning to lead the resistance, but dying in a very undramatic fashion. The important part though is Dukat should never have actually changed internally. He was still the same ego-obsessed amoral bastard, he just realized that this was finally a way in which he could win the love of the Cardassian people. And you know what? It works. History remembers him as a great man - he never gets the comeuppance he deserves, and even Garak has to claim to govern with his legacy in mind. Lots of awful people are remembered as heroic by history, so this would be a very appropriate closing to his arc.

Never really thought about this before, but I 100% agree, it would have made a much more interesting story line. Instead, it seemed like the Dukat/Winn arc was tacked on at the last minute because the writers figured both previously prominent villians needed to die (unfortunately in the dumbest way possible) for there to be closure.

• I think a lot was lost by the Dominion basically becoming only three races by the end of the series. The Dominion was originally conceived as a sort of "anti-Federation" with scores of races. While it would have been more trouble for the VFX and makeup departments, having lots of rando thrall races involved would have given considerable versatility in terms of plots in the back half of the show.

Yeah, it just became Founders = bosses, Jem'hadar = soldiers, Vorta = everything else. They probably should have divided the Vorta into a few more races with particular specialties and split the Jem'hadar into two races soldiers and sailors. Then it would have better illustrated an "anti-Federation" whereby the Founders engineered the Dominion such that no one race had all of the necessary capabilities to be independent of the others.

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

....
Worf was a perfect addition to DS9. The ensemble needed him. I don't know if they ever explained why the character left the Enterprise, but IMO, the show needed the character.
...

It was explained in the very first episode he appeared on. Enterprise had just crashed on Generations and whole crew was on leave. And when Sisko happened to need help with the Klingons the best option seemed to be Starfleets only Klingon officer.

 

[DonIago]

Never really thought about this before, but I 100% agree, it would have made a much more interesting story line. Instead, it seemed like the Dukat/Winn arc was tacked on at the last minute because the writers figured both previously prominent villians needed to die (unfortunately in the dumbest way possible) for there to be closure.


Yeah, it just became Founders = bosses, Jem'hadar = soldiers, Vorta = everything else. They probably should have divided the Vorta into a few more races with particular specialties and split the Jem'hadar into two races soldiers and sailors. Then it would have better illustrated an "anti-Federation" whereby the Founders engineered the Dominion such that no one race had all of the necessary capabilities to be independent of the others.

We did have the Karemma in a couple of episodes as well as the Dosai, but yes, it would have been nice to see some other races existing within the Dominion. Perhaps even relatively peacefully ("as long as we do what we're told, they largely leave us alone").

 

[darrenjl]

Rom, as Grand Nagus, should have sent a few Ferengi marauders to fight the final battle at Cardassia with the alliance.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

We did have the Karemma in a couple of episodes

Somehow I think it would have been more appropriate if the Karemma were the geneticists, not the Vorta.

 

[JesterFace]

Enterprise had just crashed on Generations and whole crew was on leave.

Don't tell me Enterprise-D was crashlanded so that Worf could join DS9.
Although the real reason might have been that they wanted a "movie ship" for upcoming films?

 

[JesterFace]

Later they wanted her on Voyager, and arguably created the whole maquis thing just for an excuse to include her. She refused again, and her character became Torres.

Michelle Forbes created a big part of the storyline for Voyager without even realizing it?

 

[Leviathan]

I am personally shocked that none of you has yet suggested Dax on Dax action.

 

[kkt]

Don't tell me Enterprise-D was crashlanded so that Worf could join DS9.
Although the real reason might have been that they wanted a "movie ship" for upcoming films?

Of course not. The E crashed because crashes and explosions and sex are why audiences go to movies.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Of course not. The E crashed because crashes and explosions and sex are why audiences go to movies.

I thought it was because the Okudas put it in a book, which apparently is a dare to Ronald D Moore.

 

[jmidnight_99]

It was explained in the very first episode he appeared on. Enterprise had just crashed on Generations and whole crew was on leave. And when Sisko happened to need help with the Klingons the best option seemed to be Starfleets only Klingon officer.

Thanks, I forgot about this.

Rom, as Grand Nagus, should have sent a few Ferengi marauders to fight the final battle at Cardassia with the alliance.

I forgot about this too. Rom as "Grand Nagus" was a low point, IMO. Somebody thought it would be ironic and funny, But in such a world they would probably revolt and hang him upside down by his hoo-ha's.

 

[DonIago]

You mean his ears?